Archive for the ‘Guttmacher’ Category

NEW YORK – Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, today commented on the Guttmacher Institute’s amicus brief filed in opposition to Priests for Life v. HHS, which is now challenging the HHS mandate in the Supreme Court.

“The Guttmacher Institute asserts that the religious freedom rights of Priests for Life and the dozens of other groups and individuals with cases now before the Supreme Court are subservient to the demands of government regulators,” said Fr. Pavone. “This may be what abortion advocates claim, but it’s not what the law states.”

The Guttmacher Institute has filed an amicus curiae brief in the consolidated Supreme Court case Zubik v. Burwell, in which the lawsuits of Priests for Life and six others seek the court’s protection from the Obama administration’s demand that religious non-profit groups participate in the distribution of abortion-causing drugs in violation of their faiths. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the matter on March 23.

“Contrary to what Guttmacher and the abortion lobby allege, the government could find any number of ways of making birth control available without forcing church groups to violate their own beliefs,” added Fr. Pavone.

“The abortion lobby likes to talk about the separation of church and state, but it now wants to weave the tentacles of government into religion, telling churches what they can and can’t believe. The hostility of abortionists and their supporters to people of faith and to faith itself has never been more apparent.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

The recent trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell has brought attention to the issue of race and abortion. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies and of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 41-year-old abortion patient. It is alleged that Gosnell preyed upon poor minority women at his late-term abortion mill. It raises the question, is targeting of minorities actually taking place in the abortion industry?

A statistic frequently quoted by the media is from a 2011 Guttmacher Institute study that states only 9% of abortion facilities are located in predominantly Black neighborhoods. However, new research from Protecting Black Life reveals that Guttmacher’s study does not tell the whole story.

The nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, does not follow that trend. In fact, an overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are placed within walking distance of minority neighborhoods. This new research shows that 62% of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of relatively high African American populations. And a staggering 79% of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of African American and/or Hispanic communities.

While previous studies have typically looked at large geographical areas such as zip codes, Protecting Black Life’s research is considerably more thorough and reliable because it analyzes population data at a much closer level using 2010 Census tract data. The Census tract approach provides a very consistent, in-depth and detailed look at the demographics of the population landscape.

To demonstrate the research results, Protecting Black Life has created an illustrated map integrated with Google Maps functionality, including the ability to zoom down to the street level of each location. The interactive map gives an up close and personal view of just how many of these abortion facilities are located near minority neighborhoods. The full research results, map and accompanying resources are available at www.ProtectingBlackLife.org.

Arnold M. Culbreath, Director of Protecting Black Life says, “Minority neighborhoods are the #1 targets of Planned Parenthood. It’s no wonder abortion remains the leading cause of death among African Americans, higher than all other causes combined. Getting this information to as many people as possible is not only critical, it’s a matter of life and death for countless babies and oft times, as in the Gosnell case, even their mothers.”

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About Protecting Black Life: Protecting Black Life is an outreach of Life Issues Institute, with a primary objective of informing the African American community how we are being targeted by the abortion industry. It provides education, resources and assistance in the development and implementation of strategies to lower and eventually eliminate the problem of abortion in the Black community. For more information, visit the website: www.ProtectingBlackLife.org.

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